


Wait for It

by Crowleysbian



Category: One Piece
Genre: (but only small mentions of it), Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Found Family, Gen, Internal Monologue, Light Angst, Pre-Timeskip, discussions about death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:20:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24284260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crowleysbian/pseuds/Crowleysbian
Summary: Robin had no idea what would be of Monkey D. Luffy, but she secretly wished she could live enough to watch it.
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy & Nico Robin
Comments: 7
Kudos: 43





	Wait for It

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I've been obsessed with One Piece for months, but this is the first time I try to write something for this fandom!
> 
> Robin is my favourite character, and I honestly wished the author would care enough to develop her relationship with the rest of the crew, but since he won't, I guess I'll just do it myself 🤪
> 
> This (extremely self-indungent) story is focused on Robin's relationship with Luffy and some connections she might make between him and Saul. I don't even like Hamilton all that much, but after listening to this song, I couldn't help but think of them.

_He doesn't hesitate._  
 _He exhibits no restraint._  
 _He takes and he takes and he takes._  
•

He was a boy buried in the desert sand.

It wasn’t the first time they've met, but it was the first time she got to truly _see_ him.

A skinny lad, buried up to his head in sand, bloodied and _still fighting_ , despite the how unlikely victory seemed to be.

Crocodile was far from indestructible; life has taught her no one associated with her ever was. But how unlikely would that be, for a teenager with seemly no idea how to fight a logia user to put a stop to Crocodile’s well-crafted plan? Why one did he keep on fighting when there was no way to win? Yet he had not stopped fighting by the time Robin’s arms reached him and pulled him out of the sand.

Where was all this strength even coming from? His body was covered in bruises and lacerations, yet imminent death didn't seem to have crushed his spirits even one bit. He was still fighting for his next breath with every ounce of courage he had, and Robin just didn’t _understand_ it. Was there any point in prolonging your own suffering like this, when there was no way you could ever win?

“Than…k… You…” He heaved, still trying to catch his breath, and Robin couldn’t help but frown.

She wondered why was he thanking her. If anything, he should angry at her for not putting him out of his misery. 

Death was the only certainty in life, and as someone who has seen so much of it during her lifetime, Robin was more than ready to greet it like an old friend. And It was getting so close now, she would feel it: by the time she got to Rio Poneglyph and finally learned the full history that her people died trying to uncover, she would be able to finally rest.

For her, death would simply be the long awaited end to her journey.

But Monkey D. Luffy wasn't like that. He took every new breath like he _deserved_ it. He demanded it. He demanded _life_ in a world that had only served the people around her death, and as unlikely as that might be, the universe seemed to answer him. 

_What is it that moves him? Why is he going so far for a fight that can’t be won?_

“Why do you fight?” Robin inquired, still frowning. “You, people who carry the name of D.”

She has met one of them before. Saul was a kind soul who sacrificed himself for her, for what he thought was right. He gave his life to save a little girl he has met only a couple of days before, and she had spent the rest of her life looking for a way to make his sacrifice worth it.

What was that with the people of D. that moved them to turn the odds around, to make the impossible possible, just to protect the people important to them?

“D?” Luffy repeated, as if Robin had just spoken to him in a language he couldn’t understand. It was clear that he wasn’t consciously choosing to follow some sort of will, yet he was doing it anyway: his actions were moved by something greater than his own life, greater than the prospect of death.

Robin couldn’t understand him, but she would be a fool to pretend she couldn't feel that there was something different about him. 

“I guess I shouldn’t have asked”, she eventually replied, using her power to reach for his straw hat buried in the sad. 

Robin had no idea what would be of Monkey D. Luffy, but she secretly wished she could live enough to watch it. 

•  
 _And he keeps winning anyway._  
 _He changes the game._  
 _He plays and he raises the stakes._  
•

“Why did you lie?” The question resonated in her ears, the voice somehow sounding far away in the midst of the rubbles they were both in. Robin could barely hear it. She could barely feel any of the lacerations in her body either; she was past the pain, past of life – completely resigned to her impending death.

Still, she smiled. It could have been worse. It could have been way better, too, but it was too late to go back. She didn’t find the answers she was looking for, but then again, when was life ever generous to her?

“So you knew?” Robin chuckled in response. “How mean.”

King Cobra didn’t look at her when he replied, focused on trying to save the young boy who had just casually done the impossible a few moments ago. “I know this country’s story isn’t written there. The information about the weapon you want; everything should be there, including its location. All you needed to do was to tell Crocodile about it, and this country’s destiny would be in his hands.”

“I don’t care about such things. Whether the people of this country live or die, that’s none of my business.” Robin muttered, mildly annoyed at the tone of his accusations. Of course she didn’t care about what would happen to Alabasta: peace and war, life and death, everything was out of her control. She couldn’t save anyone.

“I wasn’t going to give Crocodile the weapon from the start,” she added, coughing a bit; a small part of her mind couldn’t help but notice that was certainly a strange way to die: covered in her own blood, forgotten amidst the ruins of a kingdom she helped to destroy.

That was the constant in her life: she destroyed everything she touched, and was fated to watch it powerlessly as it returned to the dust it was once made of.

“I don’t get it then,” King Cobra insisted, “why did you come here?”

She wasn’t upset with the inquiries that were being thrown at her, although a small part of her still wished King Cobra would allow her the mercy of being left alone to die. However, since she _did_ help Crocodile try to destroy his kingdom, the least she could do was to humour him a little bit.

“What one expects and what one hopes are different things. I was seeking the Rio Poneglyph – the only stone that tells the ‘real history’ among all the other stones scattered around the world.” Robin explained weakly.

“What do you mean by ‘real history’?” He pressed.

Robin only hummed in response, too tired to even entertain the idea of explaining what she meant. It was a really long story, after all. “I give up.” She simply stated. “I’ve searched for twenty years and I’m out of clues.”

She thought about her island, about her fellow scholars who died trying to protect that knowledge. She thought about Saul, her beloved giant friend who sacrificed himself to keep her alive. Robin was the last one in this world still carrying Ohara's will inside of her. She was about to die, and when she did, the Ohara would die with her.

Before she could help herself, Robin felt eyes filling up with tears.

 _Oh_ , she thought. _I never imagined I would still have the strength in me to mourn them during my last moments. I guess grief really does become a permanent part of your life._

“This place was my only hope… and it was a failure…” Robin lamented, too tired to conceal the disappointment in her voice any longer. “Dying here would be a fitting end for me; living like this has been exhausting.”

In the end, her mistake was to allow herself to have hope.

The odds were never in her favour to begin with: she knew Crocodile never trusted her completely (and in a sense, it was a relief that he wouldn’t be another person that she would let down); his plan was far too risky to begin with, depending on too many variables he no control over; and, maybe the worst of his mistakes, Crocodile just failed to consider the “variable D”: the actions of those who can twist fate at their will.

Still, the mere prospect of possibly finding the truth about the gap in known history has lead her into yet another fruitless journey, and she had only herself to blame for that.

“All I wanted was to learn the history, but there are just too many enemies in the way of my dream...” Robin muttered to herself, her voice faltering at the end. She could feel her eyes getting heavier, but it was hard to tell if it was finally the loss of blood getting to her or if she was simply too _tired_. King Cobra seemed to be still making his inquires, but his voice sounded muffled in her ears, as if she was underwater. 

_Is this how dying feels like?_ , Robin wondered to herself, suddenly feeling a strange sense of relief. She has imagined death so much that it felt like a memory, and if that was the place it would actually come for her, Robin was ready to greet it. There was no point in going forward. 

And that was when, among the falling debris, a scrawny boy, covered in blood and wearing a straw hat, got up and, disregarding all her plans and expectations, carried her out of the poneglyph chamber before it collapsed.

•  
 _And if there's a reason_  
 _He seems to thrive when so few survive_  
 _Then Goddamnit I'm willing to wait for it._  
•

Robin stumbled along the margin of the Sandora River, breathing heavily. Keeping her eyes open seemed was getting harder, and every new step she took made the pain in her chest feel unbearably worse, yet she couldn’t bring herself to care about her wounds just yet; with adrenaline coursing through her veins, her survival instincts kicked in: all she could think of was to get as far from Alubarna as she physically could before the marines decided to start cleaning up their mess. She was good at escaping, thanks to the two decades of escaping death and captivity; when you're an enemy of the World Government, there’s no way you can survive for long without becoming good at escaping, adapting, running away and leaving everything behind.

Robin had no home. She had no family, no place to go back to, no one she could trust. Every single person who had come close to her in her twenty eight years life has ended up either betraying her or dying – and even the people who got affiliated with her with no pretence of trust involved, like Crocodile, ended up meeting terrible fates. 

_It’s like I’m a virus_ , she thought, not for the first time in her life, _always infecting and killing the people who get close to me._

At one point, Robin noticed she had no idea where her feet were taking her. She had no boat, no plan of escape; she was ready to die in Alabasta, either by the hands of Crocodile, or as a simple casualty of war. 

Yet those words still resonated inside her head, over and over:

_“Okay, let’s go.”_

_“Wait a second! I have no reason left to live! Leave me here, please!”_

_“Why should I listen to you?”_

Monkey D. Luffy heard her pleading, begging to be left to die, and decided she should live anyway. He gave her no space to debate, he didn’t even hesitate: he just carried one of his enemies out of the collapsing chamber and saved her life.

Robin should be angry about it.

She should be fuming, because how selfish was it, to just save someone who had nowhere to go?

Yet all she could do was think about the other D. who sacrificed his own life for her future, for the survival of the culture of a island he barely knew, for the unlikely friendship he had forged with a lonely infant who was rejected by her own people. 

“It’s the second time I’m saved by a person bearing the name D.” Robin mumbled as exhaustion finally started to kick in, and she allowed herself to slowly sit down, her back resting against a large boulder by the margin of the river.

_Monkey D. Luffy._

_Jaguar_ _D. Saul._

“What did they see in me?” Robin sniffled, feeling the tears coming back; her voice was raspy, and she could feel every muscle in her body trembling, but when the tears started falling, they were not for the fatigue, or for the pain, but for the suffocating realisation that she was once again saved by someone who could see something in her that she simply couldn’t. 

Robin wanted to be mad at Luffy. She wanted to resent the fact that a child who didn’t even know her name dared to decide whether or not she should live Who decided to save her even when she begged him to ler her _rest._

She wanted to, yet she couldn’t, because for some reason beyond her understanding, Luffy looked at her like she _mattered_.

The boy barely knew her, and they've met in opposite sides of a war, yet he looked at her like she was something _important_ – and she really wanted to resent that as well, but she couldn’t.

 _How pathetic is that_ , she mused to herself, _to feel so deprived of love and affection that you would imprint on a child who you barely know, just because he didn’t look at you like a demon?_

Still, Monkey D. Luffy had something about him that was exhilarating; the will to live that was only present in the ones who truly didn’t fear death. And Robin wanted more, she craved for more. She wanted to be part of his story; she wanted to see what else someone like him could do, what he could achieve. 

For the longest time, Robin thought that her dreams of adventure and friendship burned away with Ohara. Yet, when she looked at the Straw Hat's flag flying at the distance, Saul's words resonated in her mind.

_“The sea is so vast… Someday you’ll for sure find friends who will protect you! No one is born in the world to be alone!”_

Even though Robin has had company throughout the last two decades, she always felt so lonely that she almost forgot those precious words.

“Could it be him?” Robin wondered out loud, even though there was no one there to give her an answer. “Could Monkey D. Luffy be the one person I'm destined to meet?”

It was scary how happy the thought made her feel. 

Robin tried to tell herself that it was too early to say that: she barely knew Luffy, and he might have saved purely out of pity or out of spite; that didn’t mean that he would want to keep her around.

But then again, Luffy was the one who made the call, who decided she should live. He had to take responsibility for it.

“I hope I'm not wrong about you, Straw Hat Luffy”, Robin breathed as she used the last of her strength to get up and slowly limp towards the ship anchored at the nearby shore.

Climbing up was a laboured ordeal even with the help of her devil fruit powers, since she was physically drained, but she eventually managed to do so, letting herself fall on the ship’s deck. 

She was in desperate need of a bath, and her wounds would need proper care eventually, but Robin decided that would have to wait until the morning. For now, all she could do was to find a position on the floor where her wounds didn't hurt as much, and then finally allow herself to fall asleep.

In the next morning, Robin struggled to wake up. The sun felt so good against her skin, making her feel a tiny bit of gratitude at the fact that she didn’t die alone amidst the rubble of a hidden crypt; even though that might have been a poetic death for an archaeologist, Robin secretly hoped she would get h to rest in sunny place like this. 

Eventually, she did manage to get up; it was about time for her to take care of her wounds, and the years fending for herself gladly gave her enough medical experience to be able to clean and suture them properly. After she was clean and bandaged up, she could try to find herself a change of clothes – they had a woman on board, right? – and something to eat.

Robin had no idea when the Luffy and his crew would be back, so she decided it was better to get on with it quickly: if she was going to ask them to join their crew, it would be of terribly rude not to look the part.

-

Some days later, when the crew finally parted ways with Nefertari Vivi and sailed away from Alabasta, Nico Robin was sitting inside the Going Merry's lounge, listening to the banter outside with a playful smile on her face.

“I should probably introduce myself”, Robin hummed, closing the book she had been reading and leaving it by the table. She probably looked as nonchalant as ever on the outside, but she could feel a strange burst of excitement as she walked outside to let herself known.

This could be a huge mistake.

But god help her if she wasn’t excited to find out.

•  
 _Life doesn't discriminate_  
 _Between the sinners and the saints_  
 _It takes and it takes and it takes._  
 _And we keep living anyway_  
 _We rise and we fall and we break_  
 _We fall and we make our mistakes._  
 _And if there's a reason I'm still alive_  
 _When so many have died_  
 _Then I'm willin' to-_  
 _•_

During cloudless nights, when the sea was calm and you could feel a light breeze blowing through your hair, Monkey D. Luffy could be found sitting on top of the Thousand Sunny’s lion head, looking at the sky. 

It was an old habit too, developed back when they had a much smaller and more unstable ship, and while it was a mystery why someone permanently incapable of swimming would put himself in such a position, Robin has grown fond of the scene: his features seemed even younger while illuminated by the moonlight, and his dark eyes have a beautiful shine when he was looking at the night sky.

Dinner has been served hours ago, and now everyone was left to their own devices: Zoro went right back to training as soon as dinner was finished, taking Chopper with him, and Nami had also excused herself, saying she has some important work to finish in the library. Usopp and Franky were working on some project together, which was taking over all their free time – and by the excitement in their eyes, whatever it was that they were building together, it was probably something big and flash. Robin couldn’t wait to see it.

Sanji was by the kitchen, cleaning the place and getting things ready for the next meal; and although Robin wouldn’t mind helping him clean up, it was useless: every single time she offered, the young man would fuss, telling her not to worry because “he would never allow her to get her gentle hands dirty with such a task”, which was something that always made her laugh, because only Sanji could treat a skilled assassin like her as something fragile.

Robin had been travelling with them for a while now, but it took her a long time and an unbelievable rescue mission in order to allow herself to see them as what they were now: family. An odd-shaped family, full of strange people with no actual blood ties, but family nevertheless. 

_I can be a part of their family now_ , she would tell herself from time to time, but the notion still sounded too absurd, too good to be true. 

She had finished watering her flowers and left the garden for the night, planning on reading a bit before bed, when she noticed her captain on his favourite seat. Before she could stop herself, Robin was walking towards him, her book left forgotten on the bench by the mast.

Reaching the stairs close to where Luffy was resting, she hesitated; maybe he wanted to be left alone. However, before she could decide to simply back off and observe him from afar, Luffy bended his head in an unnatural way towards where she was standing.

“Oh,” He grinned at her once he realised who was there “Hey, Robin! Didn’t see you there!”

Robin couldn’t help but smile back at him. “I just got here. I was wondering if you could use some company.”

“Sure, hop on!” Luffy replied, patting the space by his side on top of the lion’s head.

“I’m... not so sure that’s a good idea.” Robin faltered; the idea of sitting there as a devil fruit user didn’t seem very appealing.

But Luffy had made up his mind, so he stretched his arm in her direction, offering her his hand. “C’mon, it will be fun!”

It seemed like a reckless idea, but Monkey D. Luffy was all about reckless ideas, and it was one of those that had saved her life not so long ago. He had proved more than once that she could trust him with her life; so in the end, that was what she did. 

Slowly, she climbed the stairs and manage to sit by Luffy’s side. “Oh, _wow._ This is a bit frightening.” Robin confessed, trying her best not to look down at the vast ocean. 

“Shishishi… That’s the fun part!” Luffy giggled, his hand thankfully holding her in place. 

“Never took you for an adrenaline junkie, captain.” Robin chuckled, later adding: “Although I supposed I should have. There’s no such thing as a dull time around you.”

“Adrena…. What?” Luffy looked a bit confused. “Robin likes big words. I just think it's fun.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Robin apologised with a smile on her face, but didn’t provide any further explanation. Luffy didn’t press for one either.

“I was wondering: what would happen if you fell from here? You would be completely at mercy of all sorts of marine creatures, since you cannot swim. What would you do?” She asked.

“I would wait for one of my friends to save me.” He replied without missing a beat. 

_Ah, friends._

“Are you okay with being so dependant of your friends, Luffy?” Robin questioned, looking at his boyish face. “You’re the captain, after all. Other people would be embarrassed to admit something like that.”

Luffy considered her words for a moment, eventually saying: “Eh… other people are other people.”

“What do you mean?”

“I trust my friends, and we care for each other.” He explained. “I help them with what they can’t do, and they help me with what I can’t do. What other people think doesn’t matter.”

“I see.” Robin breathed.

“And that includes you, you know?” He added. “We’re _nakama_. I know you still think-”

“I don’t.” Robin interrupted him. “How could I? You guys have done the impossible to save me, Luffy. You declared _war on the World Government_ for me – even though I’m not entirely convinced that you know how serious this is...” She could feel herself trailing off, so she stopped what she was saying and simply added. “I know you would do anything for me. I have no space for doubt in my heart.”

Luffy pouted, _literally pouted_ , and Robin had to resist the urge to pinch his cheek. “That was not what I was going to say!” He mumbled. “I was going to say you still think you don’t _deserve_ to be a part of that.”

Robin hesitated. “What do you mean?”

“You still think there’s something so bad hidden inside of you that you could never be part of the crew, but the thing is: you already are, and we care for you.” Luffy explained. 

“I have done a lot of bad things in the past, Luffy.” She confessed. “A lot of people were hurt because of me. That’s not something to be taken lightly.”

“The past is the past.” He insisted. “I don’t care about any of that. I just care about who you are now.”

That made her pause. As an archaeologist, Robin always thought that the past was essential to understand the present and, perhaps, to also know what to expect from the future. However, when Luffy disregarded her past like this, it never came from a place of disrespect: he simply meant that Robin was his friend, regardless of the mistakes she has made in the past.

“You really mean it, don’t you?” marvelled Robin, searching in his eyes for any sign of uncertainty that she already knew she wouldn’t find; something one quickly learns while travelling with the Straw Hats is that Monkey D. Luffy never said what he didn’t mean. 

“Of course. You’re _nakama._ ” He repeated.

There was this word again. _Nakama._ Luffy considered Robin his friend, and his friends were like a family to him. There was simply no difference between those two concepts in his mind, because family for Luffy was defined as the constellation of people he could trust and that he wanted to protect. And _she was part of it_.

Nothing in the twenty years of constant struggle to survive had prepared Robin for the sheer force of the bonds she would forge with Luffy and his crew – because the government saw her as a danger, and Crocodile had seen her as a tool – but Luffy and his crew saw her as _someone precious_ ; someone so impossible to replace that it was worth declaring war against the most powerful forces in the world for. 

_What a strange notion it was, to be wanted like that._

“Thank you.” Robin blurted out before she was able to stop herself.

“Huh? For what?” Luffy looked at her, puzzled.

“For taking me in.” Robin could barely hide the emotion in her voice. “For protecting me. I never thanked you properly for that, but you did it, and you didn't have to. And I'm grateful for that.”

He simply smiled in response, and it was enough for her. She knew what he meant: it wasn’t a problem at all, because she was _nakama_ , and that’s what Luffy would do for his _nakama_.

For a while, they were both silent, staring at the night sky and the infinite sea. Robin’s had her back rested against the lion’s mane, while Luffy eventually found a more comfortable position, lying down with his legs crossed in the air and his head resting on Robin’s lap. She wondered if it was wise of him to lie down like that there, but decided to trust his intuition; it had yet to fail her. 

“You know, Luffy…” Robin eventually started saying, running her fingers through his hair, “You were the second person bearing the name D. that has saved my life.”

“Really?” He yawned in response, probably feeling too relaxed by the way she was touching his hair. “Who was the other one?” 

“His name was Jaguar D. Saul.” She whispered. “He was a giant with a kind heart, who gave his life to protect a young girl he had met not even a week before.”

“Sounds like a nice person.” 

“He was.” Robin confessed, barely holding back the tears at this point. “For the longest time, he was the closest thing I ever had to a family,” she confessed. “But he died anyway, like every single friend I ever had… Like the mother I didn’t had the chance to actually meet.”

Luffy was quiet for a moment, but his expression was serious when he he finally said: “Well, I am not dying.”

Her eyes widened. “What?”

“I’m not dying on you,” he explained, “so you don’t have to worry about that.”

It was such a simple statement to make, but not a simple promise to keep. Someone’s life could end as quickly as falling into the ocean and not having anyone to catch you; and if Luffy did fall, Robin wasn’t so sure she could catch him.

Still, there was something about the people carrying the name D, something that could make the impossible seem possible. Saul managed to save a single girl who was important to him, and years later, here she is, still carrying the legacy of Ohara with her. And every new adventure they had together, Luffy has proven to be the same. 

“Do you promise?” Robin asked, cupping his face with his hand.

“Yeah,” Luffy smiled with confidence, “I don’t plan on dying any time soon, so my friends shouldn't have to worry about it.”

“That’s good.” She said, ruffling his hair. “Because I’m not planning on letting you go either. If you can take care of me, you will have to let me take care of you, too.” 

He grinned. "It's a deal then!"

•  
 _Wait for it_  
 _•_

They still had a long journey ahead of them: so many new friends to make, adventures to have, and also some close people to lose. Life wasn’t easy for people like them, but that was an illusion none of them ever entertained. 

They were pirates, after all.

But they were also family, and they would take care of each other. 

“You were right, Saul.” Robin said to herself, while using her powers to carry a sleeping Luffy back his bunk in the men’s quarter. “I have found people who care for me. They’re a very unusual family, the sort you can only find by getting really lucky while travelling in this vast ocean, but they’re mine. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for them”.

And was probably a figment of her imagination, but for a brief moment, Robin could swear that the wind blowing in the deck sounded a lot like a well-known laughter. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!  
> You can find me on twitter: [@dykehawks](http://www.twitter.com/dykehawks).
> 
> If you like this, consider [buying me a coffee?](https://ko-fi.com/dykehawks)
> 
> And if you want to check it out, here is my [Nico Robin playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6x3uglZK8ffdoJWy3wS3ke?si=UecSo47aQ2KAAp2a4-4gRw) on spotify.


End file.
